Surprise 30th B'day Weekend

It was supposed to be a quiet weekend in Dundee with my cousin Marcus, his girlfriend Margaret and Kim, however my 30th Birthday weekend was to take an unexpected twist... I should have known Kim was scheming up a surprise, when my boss pointed out to me and everyone at the company that I had an endearing 30th B’day message in the Courier Newspaper. When I arrived home after work on Friday I opened the front door to find my bags packed. I quickly dispelled the thought she was ‘kicking me out’, when she announced “We are going away for the weekend.” It took me a while to put two and two together; Marcus and Margaret were also privy to the secret. After collecting them from the train station we gave them a whistle stop tour of the flat and Dundee (from the Law) before heading north. Two hours later we pulled into CragganToul farm, nestled under Ben Lawers overlooking Loch Tay. Our destination was “Lawers Rest” a luxury cottage, complete with views of the loch and a hot tub! We unloaded the car and headed down the road to the boat house restaurant on the loch edge. We enjoyed a fabulous meal; Kim’s Sea Bass was probably the pick of the lot! Back to the cottage for a beer in the hot tub. Saturday the 12th of May. I was now officially three decades old, or in Kim’s words “Ancient”. We had porridge and hot cross buns for brekkie, before I started opening my cards and presents. I was very very spoiled! I then made my phone calls back to NZ to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and to wish Mark a Happy Birthday. It was a cracking day so we strapped on our tramping boots and headed to the start of the Ben Lawers Track. Because the weather was good, and the track was very popular. We made it ¾’s of the way up the Munro before stopping. The snow, ice and gusty winds made climbing a wee bit treacherous so we decided to head back. The round trip was 2 hours 20 mins, so it was still a good hit out. We came back to the cottage for Smoked Salmon Sandwiches and Sausage rolls on the deck. After lunch and a bit of chill out time we headed straight down from the cottage to the lake front, it was a scenic walk through the woodlands and fields of blue bells. Following walk number two we went into the nearby town of Killin for souvenir shopping, dinner supplies, a look-see at the falls and a much needed coffee! Then we had 45 mins to kill before our boat ride, so we decide to go on walk number three, though some farmland, next to the river and back along the old railway line. We met our guide Grant at 5pm. Grant was a real character and gave us a commentary as we cruised the lake on his 12 ft run about. We tried to locate an osprey at one of their nests, however we discovered it was out. We turned back into a stiff breeze, the waves began crashing over the bow and Marcus and I got rather wet, much to the girls delight, resulting in howls of laughter. Then by chance Kim spotted an Osprey swooping down and catching a fish, even though it was a way off it was still a great sight. Back at the cottage we cracked open a small bottle of champagne and I whipped up Meat balls for dinner, one of Kim and my favourite meals. We overcame the small the issue of lighting the candles without matches or a lighter by getting creative with an oven element and a Kebab skewer. I blew out my candles and we enjoyed one off Kim’s classic Victoria sponge cakes for dessert. After dinner we introduced M&M to Mexican Trains this was followed by drinks in the hot tub. We squeezed out every last minute of my Birthday, going to bed around midnight. Sunday the weather was pretty wild, after breakfast we packed up and were out of the cottage by 9.30am. We stopped briefly for a ‘Hamish’ the Highland Cow experience and a coffee in Stirling. We dropped M&M at the airport and headed back to Dundee. A great weekend, thank you my darling girl for all organisational efforts and making my 30th Birthday a very, very memorable occasion!